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Michael C The Black Belt
Definition The Black Belt is a subregion within the Lowland South characterized by the unique properties of the soil. The region forms a crescent shaped swath of land roughly following the southern and eastern shoreline of the United States from west Texas to Delaware. The presence of black, fertile soil caused the Black Belt to intensively farmed and created a landscape of large cotton plantations, the primary crop grown in the region during the 19th Century. The high labor cost of cotton plantations created a need for workers. Slavery of those with black skin from Africa or the Caribbean was a common source of labor for white plantation owners. As such the region came to have a black majority and the term Black Belt came to be associated with areas where a black population was prevalent. Geology The black soil that first gave the region its name come from decomposed organic material and white chalky limestone. This bed of soil began to be created about 90 million years ago when sea levels were significantly higher than present and a shallow, warm ocean covered much of the Lowland South. Of the many marine creatures that roamed this prehistoric sea, some had hard shells that contained calcium carbonate, which is very alkaline. As they died their shells collected on the seafloor and decomposed into a white chalky substance. After the Earth cooled, the shallow ocean receded to expose the shallow seafloor to the weather. The alkaline nature of the newly exposed soils provided a home for grasses that decomposed on top of an impervious layer of chalky limestone. Over time this organic material built a layer of rich organic alkaline soil good for cotton. Cotton ''' Very important to the Black Belt history is the production of cotton. The black soils of the land coincide with cotton plantation life. Plantations in the Black Belt were large, centralized operations using slave labor before the Civil War. Allen Tullos of Emory University estimates that fully "half of Alabama's enslaved population was concentrated within ten Black Belt counties". After slavery was abolished the cotton landscape grew into a dispersed pattern of settlement with tenancy and sharecropping becoming widespread. The black population slowly migration away from the Lowland South during this period. The sharply defined roles for whites and blacks established during the height of cotton production had an effect the society that evolved there during the 20th Century. A video produced in 1950 illustrates this divide very well. thumb|left|362px|Plantation System The institutionalized racism and segregation common in this area before the civil rights movement during the 1960's had its roots in the landscape of antebellum cotton plantations. After the abolishment of many Jim Crow laws and the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Acts began an end to legalized discrimination many blacks moved away from the region. This reduced the labor available for cotton crops. At the same time soybeans, tobacco, and peanuts also competed for labor. '''Independence The unique demographics and social structure of the Black Belt influenced by the cotton economy have led to several independance movements in the area, from both its white and black inhabitants. The most well known movement occured after the States of the Lowland South seceeded from the Union during the Civil War. Some lesser known independance movements have occured since then. Harry Haywood was an African American born to former slaves who joined the Communist Party USA. He argued for a "Black Belt Nation" in his 1948 book Negro Liberation believing that blacks were still subject wealthy white land owners through tenancy and sharecropping. He envisioned an independent nation built on Marxist principles that would be draw its power from an equal share of the available agrarian land in the Black Belt. The Republic of New Afrika was another independence movement first conceived in 1968 by a group associated with Malcolm X. It was to constitute the Lowland South counties where a majority of the population was African-American. Their platform demanded reparations for institutionalized slavery and a referendum on how blacks should proceed to shape their common future in the region. Interesting Links related to the Black Belt 2008 Presidential Election and the Black Belt The Republic of New Afrika Geology of the Black Belt Geology of the Black Belt Prairie History of the Black Belt